Gun owners stock up before new laws take effect

Libor Jany

Published 10:32 pm, Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Greg Smith, of Milford, walks out of K-5 Arms Exchange in Milford, Conn. on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Gun stores in the area saw incresead traffic with the new gun control legislation expected to pass in Hartford on April 3.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

A man walks into K-5 Arms Exchange in Milford, Conn. on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Gun stores in the area saw incresead traffic with the new gun control legislation expected to pass in Hartford on April 3.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

The parking lot at K-5 Arms Exchange in Milford, Conn. is packed on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Gun stores in the area saw incresead traffic with the new gun control legislation expected to pass in Hartford on April 3.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

The parking lot at K-5 Arms Exchange in Milford, Conn. is packed on...

Cars jam the parking lot as shoppers leave Hoffman's Gun Center with their purchases in Newington, Conn., Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Customers are packing gun stores around Connecticut following the unveiling of new gun-control legislation, which could take effect as soon as Wednesday evening. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Photo: Charles Krupa, Associated Press

On the eve of passage of the nation's most stringent gun-control bill, enthusiasts flocked to gun dealers across Connecticut to buy firearms and ammunition they assumed would soon be yanked from shelves.

Lawmakers are expected to pass the toughest gun bill in the nation Wednesday.

The bill calls for, among other things, expanding the types of military-style rifles covered by the state's 20-year-old assault weapons ban and banning large-capacity ammunition magazines.

Similar legislation has passed in other states after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown that killed 26 people. This represents the first concerted gun-control vote in Connecticut since the tragedy.

News of the impending gun-control laws, reached by leadership in both parties Monday, caused a surge in gun and ammunition sales.

At Bob's Gun Exchange in Darien, owner Bob Montlick said he noticed a slight increase in customers, which he attributed largely to the impending legislation.

"Basically, if there's a question that something might be banned -- that we have in stock -- then I'm sure people will try to get something before it's banned," he said. "The only people who are going to comply with any of this are going to be the honest ones. The bad guys are going to get what they get or steal with anything else."

Montlick said that most customers were buying handguns -- the gun shop, he said, does not sell the high-capacity magazines that will effectively be banned -- though he declined to say how many he has sold.

"For what it's worth, when we tried to call into the (Special License and Firearms Unit, which is responsible for issuing pistol permits), their lines are always busy," he said by telephone.

The same was true across the state, where customers packed gun stores before a ban on large-capacity magazines, like the ones used in the Newtown shooting, and a new classification for more than 100 types of guns banned as assault weapons, would take effect.

About 30 miles up Interstate 95 from Darien to Milford, employees at K-5 Arms Exchange were wary of discussing sales numbers, though they said they had also noticed an uptick.

On Tuesday, the store's customers included men and women, young and old, of various ethnic backgrounds, milling about the display cases and gun racks lining the store. A store employee, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Luis, pointed out that sales had been brisk all day, particularly with the popular AR-15 rifle, which was used in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, the worst elementary school shooting in U.S. history.

Some customers accused lawmakers from both parties of caving in to special interests.

One man, who identified himself only as a former Marine living in Naugatuck, said that he has "the deepest sympathy for the people that lost those kids (but), this should be about safety."

"The system failed us. The state failed us. We didn't fail them," he said, echoing a common rallying cry among gun-rights advocates.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun manufacturers' trade group based in Newtown, on Tuesday implored its members to contact their state legislators to protest the bill.

"If you look at what happened to the firearms industry in really the last couple months, there has been a tremendous uptick in firearms sales," said Jake McGuigan, a spokesman for the organization. "I know I have been in contact with a few of the larger retailers ... and they have seen parking lots full and lines of people waiting to get in this morning."

McGuigan said that he had heard from several state gun dealers, who insist the new law was misguided.

"I don't think the legislators in Hartford, nor gun-control proponents, understand the scope or the unintended consequences of this legislation," McGuigan said Tuesday.